MACHIAS (AP) – Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe has declined to investigate missing guns from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, calling it an internal matter. Sheriff Donnie Smith said he strongly disagrees with the decision, saying, “I can’t internally investigate people from the past administration.” The issue came to light last spring when 70 guns could not be accounted for in the sheriff’s department evidence locker. The number now stands at 45.

Smith said previously that the guns went missing before he took office in January, and that his office knows where some of the guns went.